


Day 2: Rodimus

by GemmaRose



Series: Lost Light Fest 2018 [2]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Forging (Transformers), M/M, Parenthood, Past Relationship(s), Transformer Sparklings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 22:30:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16168154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: “What are you gonna name her?” Drift asked, and Rodimus smiled. He’d not spent much time thinking about names, but now that he held her in his arms, now that he felt the excited flutter of her field against his and the burning heat radiating from her soft, fragile frame, there was only one name she could have.“Firestarter.”





	Day 2: Rodimus

“And you’re _sure_ this will work?” he asked, casting a critical optic over the perfectly smooth photonic crystal in Anode’s hands.

“For the last time, _yes_.” she ex-vented harshly through her nose. “Once the newspark is housed in here, it’ll etch the crystal from the inside. Once that’s done, I can start the forging process.”

“Roddy, it’ll be fine.” Drift assured him, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “It worked just fine for Slash, didn’t it?”

He nodded, but still chewed on his lip a moment before sighing and lifting a hand to rest over the hidden seam down the middle of his chestplate. “Will it hurt?” he asked, and Anode shrugged. Velocity whacked her on the back of the helm.

“Berthside manner, Anode.” she said sharply, then gave him a reassuring smile. “It may feel strange, but it shouldn’t hurt more than a gentle zap.”

“We can always reschedule, if you’re not ready.” Drift said soothingly, hand straying to rub circles on the flat of his spoiler.

“No.” he shook his helm. “No, I want it to be today. I’m ready.”

“Alright, then.” Velocity stepped up and touched his chestplate gently. “If you could open up, please?”

He in-vented deeply, and sent the command for his chest plates to part. His spark casing opened as well, and he didn’t need a mirror to look inside and see how the little green-tinged ball of light was whirling around his spark like mad. He could feel it, feel _her_ careening around, bouncing off his spark and the metal of his casing in her excitement.

“Looks like someone’s eager to be forged.” Anode quipped, bringing the crystal close to his open chest.

“She certainly looks to be in good health.” Velocity said, and gave Anode a nod. Rodimus gripped Drift’s hand, and clenched his denta as the crystal in Anode’s hand brushed the corona of his spark. The moment his newspark entered it didn’t feel like an electrical zap so much as it felt like being unexpectedly spaced, a shock of cold to his system and a sense of loss. He hadn’t even realised how accustomed he’d grown to the presence of the newspark orbiting his own.

“Roddy, look.” Drift whispered, and he focused his optics to watch lines of light crawl across the crystal in Anode’s hand. What had Swerve said about it, again? That those were instructions for the sentio metallico? He pressed a hand to his chestplates as they closed automatically, and couldn’t help but wonder what his own crystal looked like. He knew it was chipped, but the medic who did his physical when he joined the Autobots so long ago had said it was likely from when his crystal was harvested so once upon a time had his looked like that?

“She’s beautiful.” he murmured as the crystal finished etching itseslf.

“You say that now, but just wait ‘til she’s been forged.” Anode winked, and Rodimus sat up to watch as she walked over to the next medi-berth where a lump of sentio rested, subspaced over from Luna 1 on request. She set the spark down atop the sentio, and Rodimus’s optics widened as the metal seemed to come alive. Its rough edges smoothed, and he couldn’t tell if the spark sank into the metal or the metal came up to cover the spark but either way the glittering blue-green light was quickly covered up and a few kliks later Anode was walking back over with a sparkling in her arms, tiny and vaguely ovoid with a squished little helm and two bright blue optics.

“Here you go.” she smiled, handing the sparkling over. “Make sure to-”

“Support her helm, yeah, I know.” he finished absently, cradling the warm frame of his sparkling close to his chest. “Hi, bitlet.” he said softly, brushing his fingers along the side of her helm, featureless and smooth.

“What are you gonna name her?” Drift asked, and Rodimus smiled. He’d not spent much time thinking about names, but now that he held her in his arms, now that he felt the excited flutter of her field against his and the burning heat radiating from her soft, fragile frame, there was only one name she could have.

“Firestarter.” he said confidently. Anode and Velocity facepalmed in synch, while Drift’s forehelm dropped against the top of Rodimus’s with a dull thunk.

“Well, it’s better than Junior.” Velocity chuckled, fingers tapping at the datapad in her hand.

“That’s not a very high bar.” Drift pointed out, and Rodimus rolled his optics with a scoff.

“It’ll fit her, you wait and see.” he told his conjunx. “I can tell already, she’ll be a troublemaker.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Drift smiled, and pressed a chaste kiss to his audial.

\---

“This was a mistake.”

“Roddy, you don’t mean that.” Drift sighed, reaching out to touch the side of his helm.

“Just look at her, Drift.” he clutched his sparkling tighter, arms loosening as soon as the pressure on her kibble made her whine in her recharge.

“I’ve looked.” Drift said, his voice far too level and calm for the situation.

“I shouldn’t’ve named her Firestarter.” he mumbled, letting Drift guide him back to sit on the edge of their berth. It had seemed so fitting at the time, a name befitting of a mischievous little femme speedster who maybe had her sire’s nose or chin or paint job. Now that the sparkling blue of her narrow optics had faded to the red of a dying star though, now that her helm was taking on an all-too-distinctive bucket shape, all he could see in her future was a life of judgement and mistrust. He shifted his hold on her and stroked down the narrower of the two pieces of cylindrical kibble that had started taking shape on her back last night. Now it stuck up over her left shoulder, hollow, the barrel of a gun. His sparkling was going to be a warframe, his sparkling was going to look like the most hated mech in the whole universe, his sparkling was going to go through her life stuck with a name that branded her a troublemaker before she did anything to deserve it.

“Hey.” Drift gripped his shoulder and shook it, and Rodimus lifted his helm to meet blue optics. “I know what you’re thinking, and don’t.”

“You know what I’m thinking?” Rodimus managed a laugh, fingers curling around Firestarter’s barrel. If only he could rip it off, make her frame take after his own, or at least something other than what she was shaping up to be. If only he could keep her from resembling the other half of her CNA, the absent half, the half who so many of his crew had mutinied to remove from the ship. “She’s not _your_ sparkling, Drift.”

To his credit, Drift didn’t even flinch at the sharp tone Rodimus used. He just leaned in and pressed their forehelms together, optics locked with Rodimus’s. “She’s yours, isn’t she?” he said softly, one hand planted on the berth next to Rodimus’s thigh and the other gripping his chin. “And I’m your conjunx, so your problems are mine.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at that, a broken little sound on a ragged ex-vent, and Drift kissed him gently. “So you didn’t pick a great name, so she’s drawn the short straw with her alt mode and appearance. That just means we’ll have to make sure we raise her right.” he pulled back, hand sliding up to cup Rodimus’s cheek. “She’ll be just as kind, and caring, and hard-working as her carrier.” he said, his voice soft as Rodimus leaned into his touch. “And more polite, to boot.”

“Hey!” he protested, but couldn’t help snorting when Drift cracked a smile. Leaning in, he pressed a chaste kiss to his conjunx’s lips. “Thanks for that.”

“Anytime.” Drift grinned, and looked down at Firestarter in his arms. “CNA or not, she’s my sparkling too. We’re in this together.”

Rodimus opened his mouth to comment on something else Drift could be in, but before he could get a word out Firestarter’s field flared with upset and she let out a sharp cry of distress, wriggling in his arms. “Shh, shh.” he said quickly, layering his vocalisations with the proto-glyph of Comfort as he rocked her gently.

“She’s hungry, right?” Drift asked, and he nodded. “Give her here.”

“What?” his helm snapped up, field flaring with protectiveness.

“If I’m going to be one of her caretakers, I should help with actually taking care of her.” Drift smiled, and Rodimus only resisted momentarily when his conjunx deftly scooped Firestarter out of his arms to settle her against white armour. “Besides, you could use the rest.”

He really couldn’t argue with that. He’d been getting even less recharge than usual this past week, waking up multiple times a night to fuel Firestarter. “You’re the best.” he mumbled, and Drift pressed a kiss to his forehelm. Raising Firestarter was going to be harder than he’d thought, but with Drift’s help it probably wouldn’t be impossible.

Probably.


End file.
